You need to work on the environment around teams delivering hypothesis driven product. I discuss team readiness, context, engagement and selection as the key enablers for the team.

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Featured Project:
Panama Canal Third Set of Locks, Panama | US $3.2B Value
Trusted by the world’s largest projects
Coaching for hypothesis
driven product
@markjdsmith
Mark Smith

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Obligatory Who am I

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So - did you hear about it?

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No - here’s the short version
1.
2.
Outcomes
Keep your
guesses honest
28-may-2015 17-Jun-2015
3.
Do it with data
see http://www.slideshare.net/ideapod/pivots-for-real-for-lastconf-sept-2015 for the full effect

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Featured Project:
Seattle Tunnel State Route 99, U.S.A | US $1.4B Value
Trusted by the world’s largest projects
WTF?
Hypothesis
Driven
Product
(HDP) he
said...

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How do you build capability to execute HDP?
image: https://www.finedininglovers.com/stories/secret-sauces-uncovered/

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How do you build belief to execute HDP?
image: https://www.finedininglovers.com/stories/secret-sauces-uncovered/

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The CEZ Wind Farm, Romania
Readiness - an ‘agile’ team
maturity model of sorts

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Chaos
No Cadence
No Direction
(Un) Agile
By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=43811477

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(W) Agile Behaviours:
• throw it over the fence
• Non Collaborative
• All Tasks
image: https://braddammit.wordpress.com (careful - he’s angry)

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(Artef) Agile
Behaviours:
• heavy emphasis on intermediate artefacts
• built by cliques
• ‘didn’t you see the mock?’
• avoidance/blame

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These have been about a failure to collaborate
see http://www.tablegroup.com/teamwork
You need to coach
the behaviours

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Storified - Optimised for delivering points
There’s a comfort in the structure of mechanistic thinking:
• Velocity
• Sprints
• Points
We got this!

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Lean - optimised for low waste
WIP, latest possible, just in time activities.
optimised for efficiency, but badly applied, focuses on technical delivery

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Hungry
• faster delivery of software is not NECESSARILY the thing.
• Business success is the thing.

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Changing team focus from software to biz
These last 3 have been about shifting team focus. Doing that is all about the
customer and business metrics.
• Bring team to the customer or vice versa. Develop empathy
• Show the team they are succeeding with business numbers. Interpret
them/ ensure the team knows they are driving them.
– “I can’t effect revenue - why should it be on my performance review”

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Team Readiness - the 6 stages of team
(Un) Agile
(W) Agile
(Artef) Agile
Storified
Lean
Hungry
Collaboration
Failures
Software over
business
outcome failure

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Kami Iron Ore Mine, Canada | US $1.27B Value
Context - what you must
deliver in to the team

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Context
Autonomy
Mastery
Recall Motivation 2.0

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Delivery punctuated by wins.
Joy with the team at the sight of it.
“Amazing!”

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Empathy and Caring
• “Eating together breaks down the
barriers”
• Activities together
• Coaching 1:1 for better listening,
understanding, assertion
• Offsites
• Bring the budget, sense the mood

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A coalition of the willing
You must deliver two ‘coalitions’
• The Guiding coalitions - a mixture
of committed people
helping/sponsoring you
• The willing coalition - people
adopting the change readily.
the team needs protection
The team needs the excitement of
people
adopting/using/selling/supporting.
bring their story to the team

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The data based story
• Editorialise your data.
• Find the story that shows if
we are winning or losing.
• deliver the message when you
deliver the data.
• Don’t just give numbers
BECAUSE IF YOU’RE NOT
INTERESTED, WHO THE HELL IS?

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The Customer Story
the customer's story:
• clear research findings into the
problems faced
• solution test results
• customer perception (in data)

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Context - What you must Deliver in
The Customer’s story
Data based story
Coalition of the willing
Empathy and Caring
Amazing!
Rapture of
Relevance
Emotion to the
team!

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Kami Iron Ore Mine, Canada | US $1.27B Value
Engagement - What you
must deliver out

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We IS the business.
Sales
Marketing
Operations
Support
Product
‘The business’
Sales
Marketing
Operations
Support
Product
‘The business’

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Empathy for ‘their’ problems
• Know and share the
business problems.
• What do they need to be
successful?
• Share that, talk through it.
• Empathise and help out.

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Commercial Engagement
Don’t be a nerd
• Have the strategic inputs ready
• engage in the strategic discussion
• Talk pricing, positioning.
• Ensure you remain credible

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Cadence
Ensure there is a regular pulse of
working with marketing, sales, ops,
support
• supports collaborative problem
solving (see empathy)
• brings alignment/ awareness
• they get used to seeing you
regularly. Not just a faceless
department.

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Vision, Roadmap, Delivery
There are internal and external
visions and roadmps.
• develop both versions and have
them on hand.
• Deliver to the roadmap. Show
where you ticked it off
• Show the data illustrating
outcomes.
Build confidence in your delivery, and
ability to influence the customer
experience.

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Engagement - What you must deliver out
Vision, Roadmap and Delivery
Cadence
Commercial engagement
Empathy for their problems
‘We’ is the business
The pulse of
delivery, vision
empathy and
discussion of
how you’re
helping

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Kami Iron Ore Mine, Canada | US $1.27B Value
Selection - choose to
address your failings

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Product Management, prioritisation
• you can make it as rigorous as
possible
• but I think like ‘requirements
specs’ you can take it too far.
• In the end there is a fair
component of judgement
exercised to not destroy the utility
of the decision (and build up
waste)
Magic/Artform/instinct

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Take Stock of your business
ARRR Metrics:
• Acquisition
• Activation
• Retention
• Referral
• Revenue
Pick the one that’s failing
http://www.slideshare.net/dmc500hats/startup-metrics-for-pirates-long-version

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The failure measure
Pick one of the measures for failure
• facilitate the group to understand
and delve into the underlying
cause.
• Very deep analysis(may unearth
many issues on the way to the
one you choose)

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Success is a by product
When you’re addressing your
failures, you are whittling them away
to nothing.
• success comes because of the
absence of failure
• It’s a by product ‘EMERGENT
SUCCESS’

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Selection - choose to address your failings
Success is a by product
Group diagnosis
The Failure measure
Take stock of the business
Magic

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Kami Iron Ore Mine, Canada | US $1.27B Value
What’s Next

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Where to start?
Start with a win!
The SMALLEST, FASTEST, MOST ARRESTING, DATA DRIVEN WIN
Then build the strategy, and start delivering on it. GOOD LUCK!

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